Wednesday, April 03, 2013

My youngest is now one year old

My baby is one year old today.She’s so delicate and tiny that at her six
month appointment her doctor wrote “failure to thrive” on her chart.She defied that doctor by packing on two
pounds in the following two months and is currently 15lbs. She’s a little fighter, going from happy to screaming mad in seconds.I really do understand that as #3 she needs
to fight for our time, but she doesn’t even bother with the wind up.There is no 0 to 60 seconds; it’s more like 0
to 2 seconds.Immediate and high
intensity screaming and once picked up, all is fine.It’s a very good thing that she’s so small
because she’s turning out to be even more of a dictator then Charlotte was in
that we have to hold her so much!

No one believes me because she’s so angelic with her giant
doe eyes, tiny bow lips, little fringed bangs but reach for her and she will
let you know immediately that only mom and dad have permission to hold her Highness.

I think the one thing that startled me the most about
Violette from the beginning is her absolute steady calmness as she first
observed her siblings.I was a bit
afraid that they might scare her because they are quite boisterous but she
simply gazed at them as if to say, hello, I already know and claim you as my
family.I mean I quite get that she had
absorbed their noises while in the womb but the moment when she laid eyes on
them was just so poignant for me.I
guess I had prepared myself to quickly move the others in case they tried to
poke at her face or eyes but they were completely enthralled with her.Sibling rivalry completely put aside as they
gazed in absolute adoration at her.

Charlotte shows her continued adoration buy waxing on and on
about all the lovely things she will hand down to Violette when she gets
older.I’m talking prized possessions
being promised away.I’m really quite
curious to see how this turns out in a few years – will there be screaming fits
of “she’s taking my things”?Will this
adoration continue?I hope so.

I must confess a very bad thing, I hoped for another boy the
3rd time around – I really did.I was feeling a bit traumatized by Charlotte’s first two years and
worried I wasn’t up for another high maintenance girl.But you know what, I absolutely adore my baby
Violette.She has an utter calmness about
her that is so reassuring and sweet, I feel like I can take her anywhere and
she will just calmly sit on my hip.I
had hoped this calmness might endure but she’s suddenly given way to an intense desire to be put down to explore so even when I want to hold her she
wiggles so hard that I have to put her down for fear of dropping her!

My favorite thing about Violette – well that’s hard to pin
down yet since she’s only 1 year old and suddenly reinventing herself.I guess I could say she’s a girl who knows
what she wants, immediately and without any hesitation.I like that quality in a girl.Let’s see how this plays out in her life!